Startups Expand Artificial Intelligence, Computing and Mission Capabilities
Entrepreneurs are leading advances in artificial intelligence, chip-level Internet of Things cybersecurity, and satellite capabilities. In 10-minute intervals, representatives from five startup companies pitched these emerging aerospace-related technologies during Starburst Accelerator’s virtual Los Angeles Selection Committee meeting on July 14. The entrepreneurs are vying for partnership agreements, venture capitalist seed funding and a chance to join Starburst’s Accelerator program. Headquartered in Paris, with offices in Los Angeles, Singapore, Munich, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Seoul and Mumbai, Starburst has been uniting startups and investors in the aerospace industry for the past eight years. Last month, the technology accelerator heard pitches during its Paris Selection Committee event, while previous events of its U.S. East Coast Selection Committee, held at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and The MITRE Corporation, featured improved battery efficiencies, legged robotic systems, software for manufacturing improvements and satellite-based quantum key distribution for encryption, among other cutting-edge technologies.
The company and their technologies, which ranged in their level of deployment, technical readiness or prototyping stages, included:
Mountain View, California-based NXM Labs, a next generation cybersecurity company focusing on Internet of Things (IoT), is offering a security-as-a-software-service platform in a new category of security called autonomous security, said Scott Rankine, CEO. “It is a firmware or software chip-based solution that allows us to separate and create a whole new layer of security that has not existed before,” he said. “We separate it in such a way that the security sits between the applications that are inside of the chip and the networks that they connect to,” he stated. NXM Labs’ patented firmware application looks for changes in high-level software and fully encrypts all data communications, from a device’s chip to the cloud. “Our autonomous security by nature takes care of any single point of failure, so if any part of a system is compromised, it can’t be used to affect or bring down other assets in the network,” Rankine explained. And although they have an aerospace and aviation focus, NXM Labs’ versatile platform also works with connected vehicles, commercial and industrial applications. “Any device that connects to a network is in our sphere,” Rankine said. Their chip-level IoT security provisioning and monitoring platform is the first of its kind, and it is uniquely able to prevent fleet-wide attacks in automobiles or satellite constellations. And the fully distributed, blockchain-based architecture virtually has no impact on latency at all. “And it is highly, highly scalable,” he added.
Atlanta-based Cosmic Shielding Corporation is producing a patented, multi-functional, 3D-printed polymer composite material for shielding against both particle and electromagnetic radiation. According to Yanni Barghouty, co-founder and CEO of Cosmic Shielding, the space radiation shielding material is stronger than steel and three times lighter than aluminum and can be used in any form factor, in flexible fabrics or rigid plating. “And through this comprehensive space weather protection solution, we’re providing unparalleled improvements to constellation performance and longevity, and last but not least, true safety for human beings in space,” he said. The material’s broad spectrum radiation protection also provides thermal regulation for next-generation spacesuits and spacecrafts, protecting pilots, mission crews and their vehicles. Cosmic Shielding Corporation’s technology also reliably and safely enables the use of commercial-off-the-shelf components in spacecraft requiring high-powered computing options. In addition, Cosmic Shielding has created a forecasting and modeling software that can reliably predict solar events with 95.
